China Blamed for Massive Breach of US Government Data

The Obama admin. is trying to evaluate the impact of a massive data breach involving the agency that handles US government employee records, including security clearances. U.S. is blaming China who has been accused of carrying out cyber-espionage against America in the past.

Officials close to the situation said the hack occurred at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Interior Department & could potentially affect four million people at every level of the federal governement.

The OPM is the H.R. department for the federal government and conducts security clearances for employees.

A US law enforcement source said that a “foreign entity or government” was believed to be behind the attack. Authorities were looking now looking into a possible Chinese connection.

“The FBI is conducting an investigation to identify how and why this occurred,” the department of homeland security said. “DHS is continuing to monitor federal networks for any suspicious activity and is working aggressively with the affected agencies to conduct investigative analysis to assess the extent of this alleged intrusion.”